He’s certainly at home on our farm doing his chores and rounding up the cows. But he’s also discovered a wonderful hidden talent – he’s become a hit at the aged care facility where one of our family members lives. The home is for women with moderate to advanced dementia, and it has become his favourite destination.

Rufous is a gentle boy. He’s only just turned two, so you think he’d still have a puppy-brain (and if you watched him run around like a demented pixie with his dog brother Harry here at our farm you’d KNOW he is still just a pup) but when he is in the presence of these frail elderly women he suddenly becomes attentive, caring, responsible and wise.

He seems to know when someone needs extra love and attention. In his presence, the women smile and laugh. Some of them talk to him when they are silent for everyone else. He stands so still for them to pat him or hug him clumsily, and always seeks out the shy ones who stand back and would otherwise not get a turn to say hello.

“They say a person needs just three things to be truly happy in this world: someone to love, something to do, and something to hope for.” ~ Tom Bodett

Last night the Supermoon shone down upon us. I’ve come home to our farm for a few days to rest and catch my breath, and the moon woke me just after midnight with her luminous glow.

Did you feel the moon magic too?

I’m in love with the energies of this moon and the energetic phase she heralds. It’s the last Supermoon for 2019 – and we’ve had the blessing of a Supermoon every month in this first quarter of the year.

This particular moon is clearing away obstacles to our progress and success – she is helping us to move towards our joy, and strengthening our belief in ourselves and in our dreams.

I stood under her silvery gaze last night and moon-bathed until I felt peaceful, serene and filled up with love and gratitude. I can feel this shift of energy, I can feel doors closing and opening, and I’ve woken this morning with a strong optimism for the unfolding story of my life.

My wish for you is that you can find some of that Supermoon energy for yourself this week!

“It is best as one grows older to strip oneself of possessions, to shed oneself downward like a tree, to be almost wholly earth before one dies.” ~ Sylvia Townsend Warner

One of our loved ones is elderly and in care. She has dementia and numerous health problems, but until recently she has always alternated between being determined to go home to her own home or being happy to be where she is, within the walls of a place that looks after her and helps her feel safe and connected to others.

Suddenly that’s shifted. Yesterday she told us she no longer wants to be here. She is tired of living, she said. So very tired. She’s had enough. She’s miserable and is it okay that she just wants to go?

She’s lost all interest in food. She’s struggling to keep up with conversations that were okay for her even a week ago. In every way we can see her withdrawing from life.

She’s easing away from us, and as much as it breaks my heart I am also relieved for her. There’s no more fight in her. No more strength. She’s down to her last meagre reserves. Of course it’s okay if she wants to go. It’s her life, and she’ll know when she’s ready. My prayer now is that she really does just slip away.

Sending you all so much love, and my wishes for peace in your life and peace in your heart,

“The soul always knows what to do to heal itself. The challenge is to silence the mind.” ~ Caroline Myss

Feeling tired, flat or a bit lost? That’s okay – I have some tips to help you manage that.

Or perhaps it’s worse than a little fatigue. Maybe you feel utterly smashed by life right now. My advice is still going to be the same. There are three steps to follow.

Find some quiet time. Here are some of my favourite ways to do that:

Take a long country drive somewhere, or sit on your commute with some headphones on.

Go for a walk or a run or a bike ride or a swim

Try some yoga or stretching

Make a cup of tea and sit on the balcony, or on a comfy sofa

Find a quiet cafe and grab your favourite brew and sit in a quiet corner.

Hang out in a library

Close the bedroom door and light some incense or diffuse some essential oils

Take a long shower or bath

Get up early, while everyone is asleep and you can have the house to yourself

Water the garden

Sit on a swing and then… swing!

Take an early mark from work

Go find a lookout with a view – views help put everything in perspective

2. Allow yourself to relax. Slow your breathing or, if you are exercising, get it into a steady rhythm. Let the tension unwind from your muscles and consciously relax yourself. Really feel yourself soften and calm. This might take a while if you’re stressed. That’s okay. Take as long as you need.

3. Feel into what you need most right now in order to refill your empty tanks and boost your energy levels, resilience and inner peace. Trust that you already hold that wisdom inside you. Ask yourself the question, ‘What do I most need to come back into balance know right now?’ Explore it via your imagination, in meditation or through journalling or writing. Let clarity come to you in the form of ideas, thoughts, images and feelings. You may also want to pull an oracle or tarot card to give you further inspiration.

“For after all, the best thing one can do when it is raining is let it rain.”~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Hello, Lovelies!

March is a month of creativity and inspiration that will propel us forward in new directions and where we can make major progress towards existing goals. Keep that in mind as we look at the gifts of inspiration which the card Acceptance brings us.

There are two big themes to the energies of this week: Self-Love and Ultimate Responsibility. Acceptance shows us the wisdom of truly honouring the truth of our current circumstances. We might not like where we are at in our lives, or how we are behaving, we might not be happy with our choices, we may feel far from our goals and dreams – but Acceptance teaches us that the starting point for all self-love and all self-acceptance is to be present with the truth of where we are at right now in this moment.

Sitting in that place of truth (even if we don’t like what we see!) is empowering. It gives us a starting point and a place from which we can measure any future progress. Acceptance is the powerful energy of owning where we are at, within the framework of all of the other circumstances and relationships that impact our life.

This week take a little time to do an audit of your life. Where are you are with your health, your relationships, your money, your career, your goals or anything else important to you? Don’t judge or blame yourself for being where you are – that’s never helpful. Allow yourself to connect to the truth of your situation without emotion. It is what it is. Self-love can only come when we begin at this place of honesty with ourselves, and are able to love and accept ourselves DESPITE things within our current reality we would rather were different.

Acceptance also empowers us to take Ultimate Responsibility for our life this week. Ultimate Responsibility means that we stop blaming others, we stop finding excuses, we stop justifying or validating. We stop running ourselves down and trash-talking ourselves. Instead, we choose to accept responsibility for every single thing in our lives, no matter how we got to that place.

When we take Ultimate Responsibility we stop waiting for other people to change or to fix things for us and we empower ourselves to either 1) stop complaining and accept things as they are, or 2) make the decision to change what we don’t like and then take action until we get an outcome that is better than our current reality.

In the spirit of the Acceptance card and the gifts she brings what one area of your life can you take Ultimate Responsibility for this week, empowering yourself to make changes to give you better outcomes?

Supportive crystals this week?

Black and White Cats Eye enhances intuition and helps you to overcome fear of change. It opens you up to your inner knowing and helps you to see your best way forward. Fire Agate gifts you courage to follow your spiritual path, and inspires you to grow beyond your current limits. It’s a stone to kindle your creative flame. Ruby Zoisite is a stone of transformation, helping you to be empowered in your life. It elevates your confidence and authority, and enhances creativity, imagination and innovation. Carnelian (pictured) dispels doubt and negativity, strengthening self-esteem, determination, confidence and creativity.

Image from www.gem.agency

Helpful essential oils?

Combine Frankincense, Lemon and Peppermint Essential Oils for an energising and focusing diffuser blend this week. A ratio of 2 drops of Frankincense, and 3 drops each of Lemon and Peppermint is delicious!

Frankincense helps you to be grounded and connected at the same time, and reduces stress and inflammation within the body. Lemon is uplifting and helps bring focus and clarity, and Peppermint refreshes the mind and spirit.

I’m passionate about essential oils and their capacity to support our wellness journey and our spiritual and emotional wellbeing. If you’d like to know more or want to source the oils I recommend and trust visit this site or contact me at channelnc@gmail.com

Want to make the most of your year in 2019?

I have limited hard copies of my beautiful YOM 2019 Planner left. And plenty of copies of the digital version. If you purchase one, or one of the Planner packs (that also have new year direction readings, meditation malas or crystals with them) I’ll gift you a month’s free access to my community and membership site (and a chance to win a year’s free membership!) so you can experience my work, and be well supported in the year ahead. Membership to my online group, courses and YOM community – by subscription or a yearly fee – is also available

I’ve bundled together four powerful guided downloadable meditations and created a companion workbook to support you in your spiritual journey. The Stardust Connection MeditationBundle will help you to connect with and explore Earth Energies, Ancestor Energies, your Solar Plexus energies and personal power, and the Stardust Energies. There is over an hour’s worth of Guided Meditations and a 38-page workbook. The workbook holds specific instructions for using the four guided meditations, as well as journalling activities and reflection/awareness exercises.

The material in the Stardust Connection Meditation Bundle can be used at any time over the next four years, and beyond. My intention with this bundle is to help you become confident in your direction, your intuition, and your contribution to the unfolding history of the world and humanity. To access the bundle or to learn more about it go to my store or click on this link.

Craft A Visionary Talisman

This online course will help you to select a guiding card for the year ahead, or for a specific project, and then create and activate a Visionary Talisman to anchor helpful energies and qualities to guide and support you in your daily life. It’s practical shamanism, and you’ll learn a range of skills to support you on your spiritual journey. (Of course, if you’re a member of the YOM community you have access to this course for free!) For more information click here or go to my store.

Wishing you a transformative and uplifting week of action. Aim high, give it your best shot, and no matter what you do, be true to YOU!

Lots of love, Nicole ❤ xx

PS: Monday’s oracle card, ‘Acceptance‘ , is from the Peace Oracle. I use any cards shown as a prompt for channelled messages and my own own intuitive wisdom, so my take is sometimes quite different to the meaning found in a book.

“Being connected to everything has disconnected us from ourselves and the preciousness of this present moment.” ~ L.M. Browning

Hello, Lovelies!

I had a wonderful day yesterday, although apparently I should have been in melt-down. 😊 Facebook was down for most of the day for many business users, or at least most of the functionality was, and the same went for Instagram and WhatsApp.

I should have been stressed. My blog post didn’t cross-post to Facebook. My Instagram post didn’t load. My team and I couldn’t post or comment. Messenger went kind of crazy too.

Apparently this is a disaster!!!

Oh well.

Instead, I took myself for a walk through the laneways of Adelaide and stopped for good chai. I talked to people, read the paper, and made notes in my journal. Later a girlfriend came to pick me up for lunch and deliver me to my conference venue and we talked, shopped and hung out.

It was lovely.

I worked on a new deck of oracle cards and a book about card reading spreads that we are creating for you.

“I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in.” ~ John Muir

I felt raw yesterday, raw and exhausted and all used up. (not sure why, read this post)

I tried to sit at my desk and work, but couldn’t find a rhythm. My overflowing inboxes were overwhelming. I didn’t have enough words left in me for writing or for guiding. So, in the end, I left the hotel and began walking.

At first I walked without noticing anything but my feet moving along the footpaths and roads.

My head was strangely full of the sudden worry of becoming old and ill and having no-one to care for me. I have a chronic degenerative illness. My husband and I have no children. My siblings have no children. My circle is small and ever-dwindling. Who will advocate for me at the end? Who will hold my hand?

Stupid fat tears kept rolling down my cheeks.

Stupid.

I kept walking.

The more I walked the more these worrying thoughts emptied out.

I began to notice my surroundings. Shopfronts, cafes, flower carts, old churches, street musicians, the aroma of coffee and freshly baked bread.

I began to notice people.

Suddenly I was laughing. My heart filled up with beauty and wonder. I have faced death before and in those hours strangers were there for me. Nurses and doctors and kind-hearted hospital workers.

In someone else’s trials I was there for them.

That’s how it’s meant to work. How can I trust the spiritual flow of my work and not trust that this flow will also somehow support me in my time of need?

Silly me. It’s all okay. It will always be okay.

After my long walk I came home and slept. Then I returned to my desk. There is much work to be done and I am the one to do it and that’s okay too.

I’m in Adelaide right now, staying on my own while I write and work and attend a conference. After dining with friends last night I went back to my hotel and, on a whim, decided to go and check out the outside pool and spa area even though the night was cool and not much good for swimming.

The area was in darkness, but the buildings around us were lit up and pretty and the night sky’s stars twinkled above me. It was so peaceful, there on the roof, and so I sat down in the closest chair to enjoy a few moments of solitude and connection.

‘It makes you feel small and big all at once, doesn’t it?’ said a voice quietly beside me.

I looked around to see an older man sitting in the shadows a small distance away.

‘Yes,’ I answered. Then I apologised for interrupting his peace, for I was sure that I had. I stood up and excused myself, wishing him a good night and was almost back at the door which led to the lifts when I found myself returning to the pool, my legs walking me there all by themselves so it felt.

‘I’m sorry to interrupt again,’ I said, ‘but I just wanted to check that you’re okay. Are you okay?’

‘No, not really,’ he said. ‘Actually…’ and then he paused for a long time before clearing his throat, ‘I’m not really sure how I feel.’

I sat in the seat beside him, both of us looking out at the night sky and the pretty lights. ‘Do you want to talk about it?’ I asked.

He sat there for a long time, the silence thick between us.

‘I went to the doctor today,’ he said, finally. ‘I’m from the country, about six hours drive from here and I came down to town to get my results. They’re not good.’

The silence between us changed, linking us somehow in that quiet space.

‘I knew they wouldn’t be good,’ he said. ‘But I didn’t think they’d be as bad as they are. He said I had maybe two good months left. Maybe less, and then everything would turn to shit and then I’d be gone within another month, tops. If I was lucky. He was a nice young bloke, that doctor. Kind, and I could tell he was talking straight with me, and sort of cushioning the blow a bit…’ He breathed out, a long heavy sigh. ‘But it’s a lot to take in, and sitting in my room I felt suddenly like I couldn’t breathe unless I could see the sky. So I came out here to sit and think about it a bit and try to take it in. And then you turned up.’

‘I’m sorry,’ I said. ‘It must have been a shock.’ We sat there a while longer and then I reached across and took his hand. He clung to mine tightly, his hand warm and dry in mine, and suddenly we didn’t need words at all.

We sat there for an hour, just holding hands and then he said to me, ‘You’re shaking with cold. Come on, let’s go to the bar and I’ll buy you something to warm you up.’

So we sat downstairs in the almost empty bar until midnight, him nursing a fine cognac and me sipping peppermint tea, and I talked to him about dying, and about getting his affairs in order and how he could best manage what was ahead of him, given that he was an older man estranged from his only son, and with his wife passed on from a car accident nearly twenty years ago.

We talked honestly and openly and I shared all I could and on the back of a bar napkin we made him a plan. Then I gave him my phone number, hugged him and went to say goodbye.

He hugged me again, fiercely, and then he pulled me closer and whispered, ‘I was praying tonight to a God I haven’t believed in since Maggie died, and then you turned up. Thank you. I swear you were sent by the Angels, love. Bless you.’

We parted with tears in our eyes and then I went back upstairs to my lonely hotel room, threw the curtains wide so I could see that pretty night sky and I sat in the dark with a full and aching heart from the beauty and savagery and majestic synchronicity of life, and I cried.

“Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow, it empties today of its strength.” ~ Corrie Ten Boom

Good Morning, Lovelies!

If you read my post yesterday you’ll know that this week supports us in efforts to get unstuck in our lives. I’m sure most of you already know I have a love affair with journal writing. In fact, I can’t even begin to wonder how many millions of words I’ve clocked up longhand over the years. Using writing time to help me move past a place of stuckness is a useful process that I’ve resorted to often in my journalling life. The technique was created by me deciding to define a problem in order to better manage it or determine a realistic scale on which to freak out….

In all my years of journalling around stuckness, I’ve never ended up at the freaking out stage – instead, I’ve always found a way to keep calm, to carry on, and to dig myself out of the hole. I guess that’s why I keep using this technique. Read on to find out more.

Activity:

Take out your journal and get comfortable.

You may be able to do this whole process in thirty minutes or less. Or it may take much longer.

If you’re stuck, it doesn’t matter. When you’re stuck there is no momentum.

When you begin to journal your stuckness it’s amazing how you begin to wiggle free from feeling trapped.

Defining the nature of your stuckness, and what it might mean for you

What is the nature of the stuckness? Is it an action you need to take, a problem you need to solve or a decision that needs to be made? (Sometimes a stuckness may involve two or even all three of these elements – if that’s the case, write about each of these aspects, in the order you think they would need to be taken.) Write as much as you need to to really define this situation. If you don’t have all the answers create a list of things you need to research or investigate.

Okay – here’s the scary bit. You need to ask yourself ‘What is the worst thing that can happen here?” Seriously. Go into as much detail as you can. Write until you’ve exhausted all of the possibilities. Really go to town and dump all your fears and worries onto the page. Once we’ve named them, we can much better deal with them. And it stops our minds racing off creating worst-case scenarios later on when we’d be better employed working towards solutions!

How do you feel about that?

Journals are places to download our feelings. Who can thing clearly with a head full of guff? Write down all those swirling emotions inside you that come up in relation to this place of stuckness. It clears the air. It calms things down. It calms YOU down. It can be a great relief to finally acknowledge how you truly feel about the thing you’re stuck with/on/in. Sometimes, we begin to find solutions right here in our feelings. Maybe we’re scared to succeed. Maybe we’re frightened of responsibility. Maybe we feel we have to do the thing to please someone else. Maybe we said yes when we wanted to say no. Whatever it is, journalling our feelings is the beginning of unravelling this mess!

Okay – the hard part’s done. Once we’ve identified the issue and how we feel about it, we have begun to move from stuckness to clarity. Use any or all of these questions and prompts to keep moving you forward:

From what you’ve written have you already reached a decision, conclusion or clarity that can get you out of stuckness? If so, write down your findings, and then chart a plan of action. Plans are great. They give us something solid to work from. If you like creating lists, then go for it!

If you’re still not sure what to do next, explore these options on the page. Use the prompts to help you develop lists and strategies:

Is there an expert, resource, course or friend who could help us by giving us the guidance, support and techniques/skills we need to get unstuck? (For example, if you’re writing a book and having problems with the plot you could do a workshop, read a how-to book, or join a writing group.)

Can we hand the whole thing over to someone else to do or finish? ( Say you’ve been procrastinating over seven years of unfinished taxes – can you give everything to a book-keeper, or phone an accountant and ask their advice about what to do next? Can you pay your Mum or your best friend who loves paperwork, or the person from the advertisement in the paper?)

Can we start at a different corner of the mess? Often we keep approaching an issue in the same way, and from the same angle. Obviously when we don’t get anywhere we end up stuck. Is there another way you could approach this? Brainstorm as many alternatives as you can, writing them all down. When you’ve generated your list then you can choose a new approach and get started. (For example, you need to get your house ready for sale, and it’s overwhelming you. Instead of starting on a big job, tidy out your kitchen drawers, go through the linen cupboard, build momentum on the easy things or the small things. Soon you’ll be powering through the problem areas. If you’re writing a book set in medieval England and you love the idea but it’s just not working can you make it sci-fi, or fantasy fiction?)

Instead of choosing Option A or Option B can we choose Option F, Q or Z? How many times has it come down to what we think is an extremely limited choice? We paint ourselves into a corner thinking we need to choose between A and B when actually we could have chosen both, none, or something else. Brainstorm some crazy alternatives to your current stuckness. Somewhere in that list will be the seeds of what will grow into your solution. (For example, you are living in a share house and you don’t like one of the new housemates. You obsess about how to get them to leave. You agonise about how you will cope if they stay. Well, could YOU move out? Could you go house-sitting, get a job or go back to study that supplies accommodation, use this as the push to move interstate or overseas, move in with friends or your folks for a while so you can save money to get a place of your own? Could you sell up and go back-packing around Europe for a year, or buy a campervan and hit the road?)

And the craziest part of all of this – could you choose to give up on the stuckness, bin the whole thing and move onto something else? Could you finally let this idea/ situation/issue die a good death so that you can start over on something new? (Maybe it’s time to put that half-finished manuscript in a bottom drawer and write something new. Or end the relationship and enjoying being single for a while. Go back to study and change your career direction rather than stay stuck in a dead-end job.)

When we write out our problems, our brain is encouraged to find a solution. We let the Universe know that we are done with being stuck and that our intention is to get moving again. And more than once, when I’ve begun this process, a solution has come out of nowhere. That’s the Law of Attraction in action! Think positive. Trust in good outcomes!

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